Monday, August 30, 2010

The Moldova’s new generation is struggling with the social issues

The Republic of Moldova is an Eastern European country located at the East of Romania and West of Ukraine. It has proclaimed its independence from the USSR on August 27, 1991. Romanian is the national language, and Russian is spoken by many citizens as a second language. Moldova celebrates the Day of the Romanian Language on August 31.The country is a parliamentary democracy, having a president and a prime-minister. The Parliament is formed of 101 seats. So far, Moldova had four presidents. Its constitution was adopted on July 29, 1994.

With a population of 4 million people, the every fifth citizen is under 18. According to a research made by The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), every third child lives in poverty. One out of three children has their parents working abroad, and one out of ten children has their both parents working in another country. The children’s education is affected by the migration process of their parents who go to other countries to find a job. The minors remain at home with their grandparents or relatives, or worse – by themselves. The access to education is strongly related to the social environment they live in. The families that work in agriculture are worst paid and they cannot afford enough money to let their children attend a high school or get a university degree.

In 2008 there were born 38,367 children. The rate of infantile deaths among the newborns was 12,1 out of 1000 in 2008. The mothers’ health and the sanitary conditions in the hospitals are some of the reasons of the infantile deaths.

According to the same research, by the end of 2008, there have been registered 4,996 people infested with the HIV. The teenagers aged 20-29 are the most amenable to this disease. They count 52 percent of the cases out of 100. Some teenagers that live in the rural areas have less access to the information and they are less educated about the sexually-transmitted diseases and the unwanted pregnancies. By 2010, the HIV number of infections has decreased in Moldova. A few years ago, many people in the urban areas used to consume drugs, another way of spreading the disease. Once some courses about the Healthy Habits of the teenagers were taught in school, the students became more attentive to their habits. Still, there are many other issues to worry about. More girls began to smoke, and the boys would drink more alcohol.

The social issues that the country is facing determine the teenagers take these decisions. When the parents aren’t home, they don’t get the parental education they are supposed to.